2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Hillary Clinton: The Reagans, particularly Nancy, helped start "a national conversation" about HIV [View all]myrna minx
(22,772 posts)It's great to see you Jack. I'm so glad you're here tonight. We're probably similar in age - so we saw this plague unfold through the eyes of youth. As an teen ally at the time- I know all too well the need for a deep closet just for personal safety.
Coming of age is a confusing time for any teen, let alone one who has to be closeted - and due to the lack of information and education about HIV/AIDS at the time, many lived in terror that they could die from just from natural teen experimenting.
I'm still rather upset by this tonight, so I'm going to unplug tonight and let Morrissey melt away all of this vulgarity from me. Ha.
I'm so inarticulate tonight, but I'd like to take the opportunity here to post a link about Act Up - which was the call and demand for action and awareness about the HIV/AIDS plague.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACT_UP
If you're up for it, I think it would be very helpful if you posted an OP about Act Up's the HIV/AIDs in the 80's, I think it could be very valuable. This is recent history for many of us - not some long ago fog of history. (I would, but I need to unplug tonight. Long week. )
To think it took the heartbreaking bullying of Ryan White - a boy who contracted HIV from a transfusion - for people to begin to take HIV seriously and have some compassion for those who contracted the plague.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_White
Thanks again for being here. It was great to see you.